BUSINESS ROMANCE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5482, 2 October 1929, Page 2

BUSINESS ROMANCE.

TWIN BROTHERS WITH £lOO DIAMOND JUBILEE OF FIRM. In October, 1869, twin brothers commenced business in Wanganui as painters and decorators, depositing £lOO, which comprised their worldly wealth, in the Bank of New Zealand. The twins were Richard and Edward Tingey, and there they laid the foundation of the big business concern which exists to-day, with important branches in Manners Street, Wellington, Auckland, New Plymouth, and Christchurch. They were born in London and came out with their parents and other members of the family about 1864. They took up farming in North Auckland, and the original homestead still goes by the appellation of Tingey’s Farm. Then the Maori War broke out and Mr Richard Tingey wended his way to Wanganui to join up with the volunteers, and he took part in numerous engagements. In 1869 he commenced business, and was shortly afterwards joined by his brother. The firm possesses today the bank deposit book in which the original deposit was made. Not a penny has been borrowed outside of the family for business developments. The concern flourished, having just .let a contract for the erection of a threestorey building in ferro-concrete at New Plymouth, to which their activities will be transferred.

Mr Edward Tingey, it will be recalled, met with a fatal motor accident in 1916 at Wanganui, and Mr Richard Tingey maintained his active interest in the business until his death in 1927. The wives of both were Wanganui residents, and fifteen children were born to each of them. Although the firm is a public company, it is privately owned, the whole of the interest being held by nine members of the two families—five sons of Mr Richard Tingey and four sons of Mi’ Edward Tingey, all of whom are engaged in an executive capacity.